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I'm not very good at going day by day, detail by detail so I thought I would just hit on certain topics and highlights.....the trip was 5/6-5/9 to celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary.

Travel:

Flights on AA....some of you probably read my post about losing my license about 4 weeks ago. It still has not come in the mail as of now....so I did not have it for the fligts. I was totally stressing...brought my birth certificate, sams card, work ID badge etc... thinking I was going to be pulled out for secondary screening. We also go to the airport really early because of that. I went up to security and they just looked at my tempoary DL and said “No problem...go ahead!”. It was that easy. It also turned out to be that easy coming home too. All that stress for nothing. Flight there was smooth and relaxing....flight home was ok, but we hit turbulence which makes me nervous. Overall a nice travel experience.

Hotel:

We had 2 comp nights at TI and one at $59.00....a free buffet for 2, $50 freeplay and some free drink coupons. Upon check in the only problem I had was that they demanded a $300 cash deposit. I had specifically asked when I booked the res if this was going to be needed and I was told no. We don't put a credit card up because we don't have any. I don't use my debit card at hotels either because of their funds hold policies. So, I was just a little upset by the fact that I had brought a specific amount of cash for each day and now my bankroll had decreased by $300 right off the bat. They did give us a nice south strip view room on the 34th (top) floor and a free bottle of champagne for our anniversary.

I like TI. We haven't stayed there in years but I like that it is smaller than other casinos. It smells good inside and all of the staff were very nice. Our room was clean and the bed was amazingly comfy. The location is great because you can go right across the street to Palazzo and the Wynn...or right next door to Mirage. That new Walgreens is literally right across the walkway. That came in handy for us to grab cigarettes (price at $5.89 each, just like home) without having to pay the high casino prices.

Dining:

The first day we ate lunch at Carnegie Deli inside Mirage and we both had a grilled swiss cheese sandwich with tomato, a large order of fries and 2 diet cokes. The bill was around $33.00. I was insanely hungry so it hit the spot. I still don't know how some people eat those huge sandwiches they have there. That night for dinner we ate at Isla ....a mexican restaurant inside TI. The chips and salsa is awesome and my husband liked his entree. He had the steak tacos. They are 3 corn tortillas filled with filet mingon steak pieces....rice and beans on the side. I didn't like mine so much....I ordered the veggie enchiladas. They were dry and icky, I have had frozen dinners with enchiladas that have tasted better than that. I should've ordered something else. It was not what I was expecting. Those 2 things and 2 diet cokes was around $34....which I still thought was a good deal for that restaurant. It has the atmosphere and ambiance of a much more expensive place.

The next day it was starbucks for breakfast. Then we ate lunch at one of the places inside Paris. It was across from the buffet I think...they had pastries, sandwiches, soups and pizza. We both had 2 slices of pizza each and 2 diet cokes. It was $21.00. Not a bad deal and the pizza was actually really good.

We did our free buffet dinner that night. It was not good. There is not a very big selection and the food that they did have was not too tasty! I liked the asian section...fresh sushi and salads. That was the only good thing on the buffet. Even the dessert was nothing to write home about. No prmie rib or shrimp either, which I was surprised about. Most every other buffet was have eaten at have had that. We weren't crazy about dinner, but it was free so we really couldn't complain about it too much. I just feel sorry for the suckers who actually pay to eat it.

Our last day we did Starbucks again in the morning and then for lunch we had Rainforest Cafe at MGM. Although we have one here where we live, I still wanted to eat there. They have the best burgers and they cook them just right. This was no exception. We were starving by the time we got down there (we walked) and it hit the spot. The bill was around $35.

We had reservations at Tao but never quite made it over there. I had to go pick up our Love tickets in between the showtimes so we just grabbed something to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. Hubby had a pepperoni pizza and I had the spinach/asparagus spaghettini. It was awesome. Tasted just like something my mom would make. We shared a cesar salad and that was great too. We had a great, friendly server so all things combined, it was a good dinner. The bill was around $45 I think?

The morning we were leaving we caught breakfast at the Cafe inside TI. I had a mushroom omelet and hubby had eggs, bacon and hash browns. I thought my omelet was really good. Coffee was good too. Service was not that great though.

Overall I was happy with our dining for the trip. We ate some pretty good food and didn't break the bank doing it.

Show:

We saw LOVE on Friday night, the 930pm show. I was absolutely blown away! I am a tried and true Beatles fan even though I was not around during their time. My mother actually met them back in England before they came to the states and made it big. Growing up listening to my moms records....well, I fell in love with them and became a fan.

The show was amazing. The colors, the effects, the music, the performers....just simply amazing and I will see it again. The final number was so great it brought tears to my eyes as I sang along. Everyone walked out of that theater hand in hand, singing and dancing. Even my husband who is not a Beatles fan really enjoyed it. Just a note to anyone who is thinking about seeing it....definitely get seats in the 200 sections...even the further up the better. You need a full view to really experience everything the way it is meant to be experienced. I can't wait to see it again!

Drinking:

All I can say is that I am getting old. I realized on this trip that I cannot drink like I used to. On Wed night while my hubby was playing BJ, I decided to use my 2 for 1 drink coupons at Khahunaville. I ordered 2 rum runners and double fisted it back to where my husband was playing. I finished both of them off within an hour and by the time he was done and we went back upstaris, I started feeling sick and passed out around 11pm. I never considered myself a lighweight but my God, I felt horrible. I woke up with the worst headache around 430 am and had to completely wake up at 730 because it hurt so bad I couldn't stand it. I showered and dressed and ran downstaris for coffee and some pain reliever. It didn't take long,but I finally felt better. The rest of the trip I vowed not to drink any more hard liquor. I had a few beers but mostly stuck to water and coffee!

Weather:

It was HOT! Clear skies and beautful but hot and dry. I noticed the dryness more than ever before on this trip for some reason. I was constantly thirsty and couldn't drink enough water!

Shopping:

We went through the shops at PH and found a nice gift for our son and my mother in law for mother's day. Then as we were walking I noticed that a new tattoo shop had opened in there!! Always wanting to get a tattoo in Vgeas I went inside and asked the lady for a price quote on my idea for a tattoo. An Italian Flag in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head on my foot about the size of a half dollar. She didn't seem like she knew what she was talking about and quoted me a price of $200 or more. Yeah, we left. As we walked back by on the way out, I thought I would ask one of the actual artists. It turned out to be a lot less so I went ahead and got it. My husband said it was my anniversary and Mother's Day Gift!!

We bought a glass bowl for my mother in law, a soccer ball for our son and some earrings for our daughter and just spent a little bit of time walking around. We had walked all the way from TI to MGM that day so we decided to take the monorail back to Flamingo and walk it back from there.

Gambling:

Did we win the big one? No but it wasn't as bad as some of the gambling trips we've had in the past! The first day, it seemed like we could not lose. We quickly made up for the $300 being held by the hotel by making some nice hits on penny slots....Ebay, Davinci Diamonds, Star Trek, Indiana Jones and some more. I think the biggest one was for about $150, which is what I hit on Davinci. I won my mom some money by playing a $20 for her on Wizard of Oz and hitting for $100. I hit myself for $50. We did well at the Wynn, for some reason I always have luck there and walk out “ricer” than I walked in. That night we were up over our daily budget by at least $500 and almost all from slots which had never happened before to us. Hubby had a little luck at the BJ tables at Venetian.

So when you are lucky, it's easy to get cocky..... The next day we stopped by Caesars, Paris, Flamingo, Bally's etc...and played a little here and there. Harrah's properties ate our lunch. We couldn't win ANYTHING ...I mean nothing, not even a little hit here and there!! That night we played some more at TI, quickly running down our bankroll. It was around 730pm and my husband had a cashout voucher for $9. and change. Thinking he'd be funny he sat down at the virtual BJ table to play. 6 hours later....yes, 6 hours....we walked away with almost $400. He had turned that $9 into $200 and I played a $20 and ended up with almost $200. The virtual table was fun. We played with 2 other guys, one from OK and one from CA. After a while we created names for the virtual dealers...one looked uncannily like Marsha from the Brady Bunch...we called her Marsha! One great thing about the virtual table is that you can cuss out the dealer for giving you a crappy hand and not get thrown out. TI was the only casino I had seen with the $5 virtual BJ.

The next day was the day we did the walk to MGM. We played a little at MGM and NYNY, couldn't win much but I did hit for $150 on my 3rd spin of the Majestic Lions. I wasn't betting max credits!! If I had been it would've been $300. Thinking we could hit again, hubby quickly donated my winnings back to the casino. See? Cocky!

That night we thought we would try the virtual table again. Hubby played a hundy – lost every single hand until it was gone. Yes, every single one with no one bet more than $10. See a pattern here? Tried again with a little more....you can't possibly lose every time right? Wrong! Lost another $50. Our luck had completely vanished. We played a little quarter VP, which was ok but no big wins and we didn't walk away with anything from it. I honestly cannot remember what else we did that night, and I didn't even drink. I know that we played our point play and won the same amount back in cash. That was one plus for the evening!

Overall we came home with about 1/3 of what we brought with us, so I wouldn't say Vegas completely broke us, but next time it would be great for the luck to hold out for more than 1 day! Still have yet to have a hand pay....although we did see somebody win one. She hit the RF on a quarter VP machine at NYNY.

Observations:

~I'm getting old, loud music and hoochie-mama college girls with very little clothing really gets on my nerves.
~Everyone was very friendly this trip, from the restaurants to the dealers to the waitresses. No complaints there!
~I miss Danny Gans. It's sad to see his signage all over the place and know that he is gone.
~Next time I won't get a tattoo on my foot then walk around for 2 days on it. It is now Tuesday and it is still sore and swollen. But it looks cute!
~I'll stick to beer next trip for my alcohol fix. No more rum!
~Weekdays in Vegas are heaven and weekends are hell. One weekend day and night was about all I could stand. It was too crowded on Friday. Wed and Thursday were great.
~I prefer the virtual BJ table to the real table. Even though we got our asses kicked the 2nd night, it is much more relaxing than sitting at the real table and you don't even have to watch your mouth.
~When you rub your lucky bamboo plant all over your body before leaving for Vegas and have luck that same day everywhere you go -- don't shower until you go home. Buy some strong deoderant and plenty of clean underwear but I'm telling you....don't shower!! You can probably tell, I'm having regrets about it.....

If you are still reading, thank you because I know I'm not the most exciting trip report-er! I much prefer to read everyone else's than write my own but I felt like I owed one!

Next trip, 9/10/09 with the kids for a TOTALLY different experience. I think it's time.

nice report! Cute tattoo! How old are your kids? Mine are still little, I told my oldest (4) that she's not going to Vegas until she's 21!

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My son will be 11 when we go and my daughter will be almost 9. They both really want to see the sights of Vegas and I think hubby and I are definitely ready for a new kind of Vegas experience. My parents are coming with us too so it will add to the fun.

We really need an almost gambling-free trip because the more and more you go it seems like you (well we do) get caught up in the hopes of winning "the big one" and you forget to enjoy all the other stuff Vegas has to offer. I think bringing the whole family along will help us to remember why we fell in love with Vegas in the first place!

The best part about the flying monkey bonus is singing "oh wee oh, wee ohhh ohhh" along with the music. Although a couple of times I've hit ok on that bonus, most of the time it's not so great. A couple of times I've won zero. Nuttin' honey. Glinda is by far my favorite bonus. Two different people told me they've seen FIVE wild reels come. I'd love to see that!

Fun report!! Where did you get your tattoo? I got a pair of dice hitting "7" on my foot last time I was in Vegas.. luckily I did it the last day so I only had to walk a bit (I can't imagine walking around Vegas for two days with a fresh foot tatoo - ouch)... still, the price was $100, which all in all, I could of gotten it at home for $30 but it was the experience... Got married in Vegas, got our first tats in Vegas.. etc.